January 2020 Feature Release - The Gateway Edition

The start of the New Year is upon us which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. Ben & I will certainly be contributing & we look forward to hearing your thoughts too.    

This month's feature release for The Gateway is 1997's sophomore album from US alternative metallers Deftones entitled "Around The Fur." It was a breakthrough record for the band that saw them heading away from the nu metal sound of their debut. Let's hear what you think of it guys.

I gave this album a revisit today & was pleased to find that I still think it's a very solid record that's totally worthy of feature status. It was such a huge step up from "Adrenaline" & I definitely enjoy their alternative metal sound much more than their earlier nu metal one. They'd take a further step up for "White Pony" three years later but if you're in The Gateway & you haven't heard "Around The Fur" then I'd suggest that you get onto it pronto.

4/5

I went back and listened to this album again recently to see if it held up. And it turns out that it mostly did. This album was able to establish Deftones in the mainstream, as they received lots of mainstream adjacent airplay with this album and its singles during the nu-metal boom. But this album does seem more heavily influenced by post-hardcore music rather than nu-metal. Those influences are still there, but not as prominent as I remembered. Unfortunately, songs like "Rickets" and "Headup" do hold the album back considerably. And Deftones realized this by abandoning much of those tropes in 2000 with White Pony and beyond. White Pony is still their best record by a considerable margin, but Around the Fur is still no slouch.

7/10

This was, surprisingly, my very first look at Deftones, I don't think I've ever heard a single song by them unless there's one from White Pony. I can't say I'm a massive fan but there's definitely something here for me with the noisy and punky riffs they throw down. I listened to a lot of Chevelle a few years ago and after checking this out I can definitely say that Chevelle are budget Deftones. These guys do what Chevelle and other bands like them want to do, but just don't quite get to the level of something like this. The...intimately evocative vocal style sort of puts me off after a while but it does fit with the noisy aspect of the album, so maybe I just need to give it a few more listens to really nail down the overall feel of the album. Definitely going to have to check out White Pony sometime in the next couple of days to get the full story here.